Musings on Buddhism and modern global culture, plus a few miscellaneous topics.

Wednesday, 14 October 2015

Buddhism, David Hume and the Delusion of the Self

In this modern era of instant global communications, it's easy to forget just how difficult the transmission of ideas was in earlier times. Indeed, the present global free marketplace of ideas has only become universal since the widespread adoption of the internet, so nowadays totalitarian regimes and repressive ideologies can no longer keep people in the dark.

Alison Gopnik gives a fascinating account of her investigations of how Tibetan Buddhist ideas about 'the self' reached and influenced the eighteenth century Scottish philosopher David Hume, despite the obstacles of geography, and censorship by the Vatican's thought-police.